Tatum O'Neal shares stroke, coma experience, and aphasia diagnosis

In a People cover story published this morning, Tatum O’Neal shared that she survived a severe stroke that left her in a six-week coma in May 2020. “I almost died,” she said.

The 59-year-old actor—who still holds the record for youngest Oscar-winner of all time at ten years old for her role in 1973's Paper Moon—spoke to People (along with her children Kevin, Sean, and Emily, who she shares with tennis player John McEnroe) about the circumstances leading up to her stroke, as well as the road to recovery ahead.

O’Neal, who has struggled with addiction for years, had also been prescribed medication for chronic pain and rheumatoid arthritis in the early days of the pandemic. A few months later, her stroke was caused by an overdose on a mixture of these medications, opiates, and morphine.

“COVID, chronic pain, all these things led to a place of isolation. In that place, I don’t think, for her, there was much hope,” O’Neal’s son Kevin shared.

As a result of the stroke and resulting six-week coma, O’Neal was diagnosed with a disorder called aphasia, which affects one’s ability to express or process speech. She could not communicate at all when she initially came out of her coma, and at one point doctors warned that she might never speak again. Adding to all of this stress were strict COVID restrictions, which kept O’Neal separated from her family in the hospital; they were only allowed to communicate with her through phone and video calls, and occasionally from behind glass.

Still, despite the steep uphill battle, O’Neal spent the next two years regaining her full memory and vocabulary; an ordeal that still isn’t over. Not only that, but she has also been attending twelve-step meetings over Zoom in addition to her daily therapy, a process that Kevin called “beautiful and a miracle to behold.”

“She has embraced this attempt at recovery. She was always a very loving mom but when isolated, I think it was hard to find any love for herself,” he said. “So to me this last chapter where she wants to live, wants to get sober, wants to learn, I think it’s a miracle. I think it’s beautiful. I’ve never been more proud to be her son. She’s full of love and full of heart.”

“Every day I am trying,” added O’Neal. “I want to be with my beautiful three kids.”

You can read the full story here.